Leap Wireless Considers New Data Plans, CEO Says

Leap Wireless International Inc. Chief Executive Doug Hutcheson said he is considering introducing additional data tiers to the pay-as-you-go carrier’s offerings to help manage the rising use of streaming video and photo downloads to handsets.

Bloomberg

Doug Hutcheson, president and chief executive of Leap Wireless

While he declined to discuss the specifics, he said the new plans would also include options to buy additional data in a given month.

“People will buy more tiers,” he said in an interview at the CTIA conference in New Orleans Wednesday. Leap, which operates the Cricket brand, today offers 1 gigabyte of data per month on its $55 and $65 smartphone plans.

Leap saw its user growth slow by 22% in this year’s first three months, in what is traditionally its strongest season for sales. The carrier is playing catchup to MetroPCS Communications Inc. (PCS) in rolling out the high-speed mobile broadband network known as 4G LTE later this year.

Hutcheson said he planned to introduce the new data pricing sometime during the third quarter.